


Less Spooky With You

by sodapeach



Category: UP10TION
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bickering, Food mentions, Gen, Humor, M/M, Roommates, Slice of Life, alcohol mention, lots of ghost mentions, mentions of jinhyuk, some ot3 vibes if you squint, this is silly, this isn’t horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:26:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26681362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sodapeach/pseuds/sodapeach
Summary: While Wooseok is busy having a ghost crisis, his roommate has a dessert crisis. Luckily they have each other to depend on.
Relationships: Kim Wooseok | Wooshin & Seon Yein | Sunyoul, Kim Wooseok | Wooshin/Seon Yein | Sunyoul
Comments: 3
Kudos: 11





	Less Spooky With You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jjokkiri](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jjokkiri/gifts).



> This is my first Up10tion fic, and I don’t know what happened. 😭 It was supposed to be a little 1.5k gift for a friend, but I guess I got a little carried away while exploring their dynamic...
> 
> Wooseok’s ghost phobia is the main theme here so if you aren’t comfortable with ghost mentions, I wouldn’t recommend reading although it’s not horror at all

Wooseok prided himself on not having too many flaws. Sure he wasn’t perfect by any means, but he was someone who had spent so much time refining all the outward aspects of himself that he had created an illusion that could have been considered perfect. That was why he thought that the fact that he happened to be terrified of ghosts while living in an apartment that was inarguably haunted was not a flaw but merely an enhancement to his character.

That no one but his roommates was allowed to know about.

Wooseok was enlightened, you see, but his roommates were fools. They thought he was ridiculous for believing so passionately in ghosts, but they were the ones who were ridiculous. There were invisible people living among them! Who knows what the ghosts did when they were sleeping! One time a joke was made about phantasmic t-bagging, and since then Wooseok made a point to always sleep on his side with his blanket pulled just over his mouth just in case.

Even though his roommates didn’t have the big brain that he did to know that ghosts lived along them, they at least had the decency to not shame him for it too bad like other certain skeptics had. Jinhyuk especially even defended him from the ghosts whenever he got too scared because it made him feel like one of his favorite anime protagonists, and Wooseok just pretended like he did not see it. He was grateful towards Jinhyuk for keeping him safe though, but unfortunately… Jinhyuk wasn’t home.

He was out of town for a few weeks with his family leaving Wooseok alone with Yein who even though Wooseok adored him, wasn’t nearly as equipped to stand up to the spirits from the great beyond. Puffed pastry? Yes. Poltergeists? Not so much.

So Wooseok was on his own in his undoubtedly haunted apartment more or less, and he was doing a great job of keeping it together, he convinced himself after the third night of sleeping with the lights on. He was doing great, actually. He wasn’t even that scared.

Really.

Alright, maybe he was a little scared, but that didn’t take away from the fact that he was handling being left alone with a bunch of ghosts like a champ, and no one could take that from him. All he had to do was get home from work, complete his online classes without crying, and go to bed. Unfortunately though, there was a schedule that hid right between turning in his assignments and going to sleep. Wooseok had to take a shower.

Now, he may have been scared out of his mind, but Kim Wooseok would. not. stink. He under no circumstance would let himself be the kind of person who preceded a  _ peeyou.  _ No, even in the face of the unknown, Wooseok would go down smelling like lavender and chamomile with just a little spritz of Chanel under his jaw when he was feeling special. But it wasn’t the time for Chanel.

No, as he stood in front of their shared bathroom door with his bathrobe and towel slung over one arm and his other held defensively across his chest, Wooseok did not feel special at all.

The way the door was shut did not sit right with him. What kind of person closed doors in haunted apartments just for the next unsuspecting roommate to open and see some sort of horrific apparition? And  _ he  _ was that unsuspecting roommate! And worse! What if someone  _ left the light off.  _ He could see it now. Once he opened the door, a woman in a white dressing gown with her long stringy hair hanging in front of her face would be waiting for him on the other side. She would disappear as soon as he scrambled to turn the light on only to be found staring back at him in the bathroom mirror! The horror!

But Wooseok had no choice but to go in unless he was able to find a way to convince Yein that he  _ needed  _ to wash his hair in the kitchen sink while Yein was in there busy making chocolate truffles. Wooseok’s mouth watered. Maybe if he bathed in the kitchen, he could steal some when his roommate wasn’t looking. No, no, no. He shook himself. He had to take a shower in the bathroom like a big boy. No exceptions. He nodded and took a breath bravely and braced himself for the horrors on the other side.

He turned the knob, careful not to make a sound and closed his eyes as he hit the door with the palm of his hand like the heroes from his favorite movies. It swung open fiercely and he curled into himself in anticipation, but when he opened his eyes, nothing was there. Good, he thought. He scared it off.

Now that the bathroom was free of ghosts, he stepped inside and closed himself in. He undressed and stepped under the water stream, relaxing as soon as it hit his back. He scrubbed himself from head to toe happily, but when it was time to wash his hair, he was sure he saw a shadow pass on the other side of the curtain, and before he could register what had happened, a scream erupted from his wound up little body.

He shrieked and jumped back, knocking off all the bottles on the shelf with a loud thud, and soon, a fist banged on the door outside.

“Wooseok?!” Yein shouted. “You okay?”

“There’s a ghost!” He shouted in horror, trembling as he held himself. “Help!”

“A what? I can’t hear you!” All Wooseok could do was wail. He was helpless, trapped inside like a caged rodent, and Yein was going to laugh at him. “I’m coming in, okay?!”

“Wait,” Wooseok shouted, but before he could grab a towel to cover himself, Yein had kicked the door in assuming it was locked. Wooseok didn’t even know he was strong enough to kick a door in. That was going to be an expensive fix, but man would it make a cool story. He whimpered in fear as he slumped to the floor, hidden only by the curtain.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“There’s a ghost.”

Yein paused. Wooseok could almost hear the  _ blink _ from the other side. 

“A what?” Yein asked calmly.

“A ghost,” he trembled. “I saw it outside the curtain when I went to wash my hair.”

Yein let out a sign. “Okay, well it’s gone now.”

“Wait,” Wooseok stuck his head out and looked up at him. “I still need to wash my hair. What if it comes back?”

“It’ll see the price tag on your conditioner bottle and flee,” he said unhelpfully.

“Yein, this is serious.”

“I am being serious,” he said. “Drug store conditioner works just as well as the designer stuff.”

Wooseol frowned. “Don’t come crying to me when you go bald and your forehead reaches the back of your neck.”

“That’s kind of mean for someone sitting on the shower floor on his bare ass because the ghosts are after him.”

A second wave of fear came over Wooseok. So it was true. There  _ were _ ghosts watching him shower! “Oh god.”

“Wait, I was kidding,” he waved his hands as Wooseok started to sob. “Ghosts aren’t real! They’re not watching you!”

“They are!” Wooseok cried out.

“Which one?”

“What?”

“Are they real or are they watching you?”

“Both!” He shouted.

“I promise, there’s no one else in here but me,” he assured him. “Really. Can I go now?”

Wooseok suddenly had an idea. “Wait. Can you… stay… while I wash my hair? Just so it doesn’t come back?”

“You want me to stay in the bathroom with you while you shower,” he blinked. Wooseok looked up at him and pouted. “That won’t work on me, I’m not Jinhyuk.”

“It was worth a shot.”

“Was it.”

“No,” he admitted. “Don’t tell anybody.”

Yein rolled his eyes and turned to leave.  _ “Wuss.” _

“Hey! I would do it for you!”

He turned back and gave him a disbelieving look. “Would you?”

Wooseok considered it. Probably not, if he was honest, but this was  _ serious.  _ He was in  _ danger.  _ Yein had to understand that! What if the ghost stole his soul! Or  _ touched him.  _ He shivered. He was quite the catch, you know, and of course anyone living or dead would have to marvel at his perfect physique. 

“That’s what I thought,” Yein said.

“No! I would! I really would! Please don’t leave me,” he whined. “I don’t know what else to do.”

He scratched his head and scowled in thought, and Wooseok waited as patiently as he could while shivering naked on the floor.

“Alright, but just this once,” he conceded.

“Thank you!”

“But you owe me.”

“I’ll let you use my conditioner.”

“Will you?” Wooseok’s lips thinned. “Just cover the delivery fee next time, and we’re even.”

“Thank you,” he cheered again, feeling better already.

Yein put the toilet seat down and sat while Wooseok finished showering, feeling a lot better now that someone was standing (sitting) guard. Now he understood why royals used to have several people standing around while they bathed. It was for security.

Once he finished, he turned the water off.

“I can go now right?”

“Yeah, I don’t want you to see my junk. You might get jealous.”

Yein scoffed. “Yeah because there’s a whole lot to be jealous of.”

“Hey!”

“Alright, I’m going to go check on my truffles,” he said. “Try not to break the sink.”

“Good luck getting your head through the door,” Wooseok mumbled bitterly under his breath as Yein left him alone to get dressed, but while Wooseok toweled off alone, he felt himself get scared again. This wasn’t fair. If only he was as blissfully ignorant as his roommates, he could apply his night cream in peace. But no, he had to have a huge wrinkly brain and see the shadows for what they really were. Ghosts.

By the time he finished up in the bathroom, Yein had finished cubing his truffles and had dusted them with powdered cocoa. Based on how their last interaction went, Wooseok suspected that he wouldn’t get to eat any. Maybe after Yein went to sleep…

“You want a chocolate?”

Wooseok jumped, startled. “What?”

“I said do you want a chocolate,” he asked over his shoulder. “I made plenty, and I don’t like my coworkers enough to bring the whole batch.”

Wooseok snorted at the honesty, but still he felt his mouth water. He did like chocolate after all… 

He approached the kitchen with caution. Not that he thought Yein was going to stab him with his tiny little truffle fork, but he might have been a  _ little  _ embarrassed that he made his roommate sit with him while he washed his hair.

Yein stabbed one of the chocolates with his tiny fork and lifted it up towards Wooseok’s mouth. Wooseok let him feed him, but like a fool he should have never let his guard down. His mouth twisted in disgust before he had the chance to compose himself enough to pretend like he liked them. Yein hummed in contempt. “That’s unfortunate.”

Wooseok turned around and let the half chewed truffle roll off of his tongue with an  _ ack  _ into the garbage bin. 

“Sorry, I cannot swallow that.”

“No, it’s okay,” he frowned at his other truffles. “What did it taste like?”

“Bitter,” he scrunched his nose. “Like burnt coffee.”

Yein hummed again and nodded. He picked up one of the truffles with his fingers and tasted it for himself to confirm and barely managed to gag it down.

“You must really hate your coworkers,” he said. He reached for Yein’s cup of tea and rinsed his mouth out with it before spitting the contents into the sink.

“No, it’s just a bad recipe,” he said. “If I wanted to poison someone I wouldn’t have started with you.”

Wooseok blinked. “Thanks, I think.”

He ignored him and pulled up his phone. “See, it’s just cocoa powder and canned milk, but that shouldn’t be bitter right? It had five stars.”

“Let me see,” Wooseok said, taking his phone from him. The recipe did say to mix cocoa powder and sweetened condensed milk, but would a popular recipe be so deceiving? “Maybe your milk expired.”

“I bought it yesterday, though.”

Wooseok dug out the can from the trash and turned the label to see the expiration date, but what caught his eye was not a number at all. He eyed his roommate and tried to decide how badly he should roast him for this mistake, but Yein, the apartment master chef, had had himself a little fuck up and didn’t even realize it.

“What,” Yein asked, noticing his glare.

“Read the ingredients for me,” he said.

“Cocoa powder and sweetened condensed milk,” he said. “Did you forget two ingredients already?”

“Did  _ you?” _

“Huh?”

“What kind of milk does it call for?”

“Sweetened condensed milk,” he said, annoyed.

“Uh huh, and what does this say,” Wooseok mocked as he passed him the can. Yein rolled his eyes and turned the can so that the label faced him.

“Evaporated milk, what’s your point?”

“What does it say underneath that,” Wooseok’s lips thinned into a smile.

“Unsweetened condensed m- oh.”

“Yeah.”

Yein chuckled shyly, his cheeks flushing a slight shade of peach as he realized what he had done. “Oops.”

“Chef Seon, you have been chopped,” Wooseok said solemnly. 

Yein covered his face in horror. “What have I done?”

“No, it’s fine I’m sure a lot of people like to eat chocolate without any sugar in it,” he nodded unconvincingly. “Your coworkers probably won’t even know the difference, sour asses.”

Yein shook his head. He picked up his cutting board of truffles and dumped the lot into the trash. “This won’t do. I have to make more.”

“Oh, come on,” Wooseok groaned. “They weren’t that bad!”

“They tasted like dog sh- like dog food,” he said. “I have a reputation to uphold.”

“That’s true,” he considered. “Once everyone finds out you can’t tell the difference between sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk, they’re never going to let you cook again.”

“You wouldn’t have known the difference either! How was I supposed to know it didn’t have any sugar!”

“Well now you know,” Wooseok shouted back. Yein gave him a hateful look and marched out of the kitchen. “Where are you going?”

“To the store,” he declared angrily as he grabbed his jacket off the back of the couch. Before Wooseok could make any more jokes, he was gone, and that’s when it hit him that Wooseok had been left alone in their definitely haunted apartment with nothing but a bathrobe and a bitter taste in his mouth, and he wasn’t sure that it was from the chocolate.

Wooseok stood alone in his kitchen unsettled. Yein could be gone for at least an hour which coincidentally was the perfect amount of time it would take for a ghost to appear and eat him down to the soles of his shoes (if he was wearing shoes, that is). One hour was a small window to survive, but when one’s life was on the line, time was meaningless.

Before he completely succumbed to his own terror, he hurried off into Jinhyuk’s room to retrieve his Holy Bat. It was a seemingly normal looking baseball bat except Wooseok happened to know that Jinhyuk had taken it to three different priests to have it anointed with holy water and prayers for the sake of fighting off any unsavory spirits just for him.  _ He _ was a good roommate. Yein only fed him bitter chocolates that tasted like dog s-sweat.

He armed himself with the bat and sat down on the sofa ready to protect himself until Yein got home, but god did time move slowly when he was scared for his life. If they had had a clock on the wall, the ticking would have surely driven him mad, but the whirring from the refrigerator was doing a good enough job on its own. 

Even though the apartment was eerily quiet, every single noise made him feel like he was going to jump out of his skin from laughter down the hall to the foot steps from the apartment above. Although he was convinced that due to the lack of music or tv noise, the apartment above him was actually vacant and the person pacing all through the night was actually a ghost. A ghost sent to keep him up for hours while he pretended to be asleep so it wouldn’t bother him.

While he was busy thinking up ways to fight off the ghost that paced the floor upstairs, the front door opened, and Wooseok gasped in surprise, but once he saw that it was only Yein, he almost jumped up and kissed him. Finally he wasn’t alone anymore. He was safe.

“You get your milk?”

“No,” he groaned. “The convenience store didn’t have any, and I didn’t want to go to the supermarket this late at night.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“Make ramen and cry,” he said, his shoulders drooping.

“Can’t you bake something,” Wooseok asked as he stood up to follow him into the kitchen. 

“I don’t feel like baking anything.”

“You always feel like baking things.”

“I don’t feel like getting out all the bowls and the stand mixer just to have to wash them before I go to bed,” he sighed. “Work will just have to live without me making something this time.”

Wooseok tapped his chin. “Could you pick something up on the way and say you made it?”

“Isn’t that a little unethical?”

“Are you being graded?”

“No,” Yein laughed.

“Then who cares,” he shrugged. “Better some store bought cookies than you feeling like shit because your truffles sucked.”

Yein squinted at him.

“Well they did!”

“I know but damn,” he wailed. “I can make one mistake!”

“And now you know that there are two different kinds of milk,” he said to try to make him feel better. “It happens.

Yein sighed. “I guess you’re right.”

He turned back and headed towards his room looking worse for wear, and Wooseok actually felt bad for teasing him. He knew he shouldn’t have. Yein took his cooking seriously and it was what he was most proud of, and Wooseok should have lied and said his truffles tasted fine even if they were rancid and horrible. “Wait, where are you going?”

“To bed I guess.”

“Weren’t you about to make a pot of ramen first,” he asked. “You need to eat.”

He shrugged. “What’s the point? I’ll just screw that up too.”

“I could make it for you,” he offered.

Yein almost sprinted back into the kitchen in distress upon hearing what could have only been perceived by anyone else but Wooseok as a threat. “Absolutely not! No thank you! I’ll make it! You just sit there and look pretty!”

“Now what’s wrong with my ramen,” Wooseok pouted with his hands on his hips.

“You use too much water so the broth doesn’t have any flavor, and you cook the noodles too long every time.”

“It’s not good to eat undercooked food.”

“It’s  _ ramen.  _ It doesn’t count!”

“Jinhyuk likes my ramen,” he frowned.

“That’s because Jinhyuk is scared of you.”

“And you’re not?”

“Of course not,” he waved him off. “What are you, ten?”

“We are the same age,” he said, punctuating every word.

“Doubtful,” he grumbled. “What kind of a grown man is so scared of ghosts he can’t shower by himself.”

Wooseok gasped. “Shut up!”

“Shut up!” Yein mimicked. “Now go make yourself useful and guard the living room from demons so I don’t cut myself making this. You want mushrooms?”

“No,” he said, sulking off to the living room.

“How about some extra garlic to scare off the vampires,” he teased.

“Don’t be silly, there’s no such thing as vampires.”

Yein was left speechless as Wooseok left him to return to the comfort of their living room. He could hear some passive aggressive vegetable chopping from behind him, but he didn’t turn back to look. He wasn’t sure what Yein could have been so aggravated with. Surely it was his chocolate mishap and not  _ him _ .

Ah, but he did have something to be upset about. He didn’t have anything to bring to his work thing the next day so of course he was sensitive. Wooseok was so preoccupied with his ghost problem, that he didn’t even notice.

“Hey,” he said, jumping up before he changed his mind. “Why don’t you bake something, and I’ll keep the bowls clean while you do baking stuff so no one has to stay up late?”

Yein stopped chopping long enough to look at him curiously like he was waiting for Wooseok to throw in a condition.

“I’m serious,” he said. “I know you won’t let me cook anything, but I can wash a bowl right?”

“I guess,” Yein scratched his chin. “And it’s not that I won’t  _ let you,  _ but if you fill our apartment up with smoke again, we might not get our deposit back.”

“That was  _ one time,”  _ he whined. “It wasn’t even a big deal!”

“You caught our toaster on fire,” he wailed. “Honestly! It’s for our safety that you don’t even come in here.”

Wooseok stuck his nose up in the air, flicking an invisible lock of hair from his shoulder. “Fine, if you don’t want help cleaning up then I’ll go watch a movie or something.”

“Wait,” he grabbed his arm as a plea.

“I’m kidding,” Wooseok pulled away. “I’ll still do the clean up for you. I don’t want to see your coworkers giving you a hard time for showing up empty handed or with a box of oreos.”

Yein turned back to his cutting board. There was a handful of sliced mushrooms, chillies, onions, some spam, garlic, and a couple of eggs safely placed inside a bowl to keep them from running off on their own. He did so much even though his mood wasn’t good. “It’s not like you’d actually be able to see it.”

“No, but I’d see you when you got home, and if you come home upset, I’m going to have to find out where everyone lives so I can beat them and that would take a really long time, and I don’t know if I have the stamina to go track down more than one person.”

Yein snorted and swatted at him like he meant to hit him, nearly missing by his own exhaustion. “Alright, alright, if you don’t mind cleaning up, I’ll try throwing something together.”

Yein abandoned the vegetables to get out what he needed because he insisted on letting the dough rest while they ate, to Wooseok’s growling stomach’s dismay. 

“Go put on some clothes,” he ordered.

Wooseok grabbed the ends of his bathrobe and pulled them tighter across himself. “I don’t wear clothes after 10 p.m, you know this!”

“You cannot be in here while I make food for other people without any underwear on! It’s a health code violation!”

“Ugh, fine!” 

Wooseok scowled as he stomped off to his room to find some clothes only because he didn’t want to be shamed for his nightly comfort habits in his own home. It wasn’t like he was going to mix the dough with his ass cheeks! He wasn’t even going to mix it at all!

He let the door slam behind himself, but it went ignored as Yein flipped the switch on the stand mixer Jinhyuk had bought him for his birthday the year before. It was black and sleek, and Wooseok had pitched in for the attachments (and if anyone dared to say he cheaped out, the dough hook, the meat grinder, the five piece pasta set, and the juicer all cost more than the whole damn machine did). Yein loved that stand mixer like it was his own child, even going so far as to decorating it with stickers from some of his favorite groups. And it so happened that Yein only used his stand mixer when he was in a good mood, preferring to crush the dough with his bare hands when he was pissed off.

But Wooseok didn’t have a chance to appreciate the fact that his mood had instantly improved because the moment he stepped into his bedroom, a chill creeped up his spine, and that could only mean one thing. Ghosts.

Once he was alone and had removed his bathrobe, he noticed that his room was significantly colder than the kitchen had been, and that had absolutely nothing to do with the vent placement in their apartment or the fact that he was newly undressed. He knew he only had a few minutes to get dressed and back to the kitchen before the spirits dragged him under his bed and had their way with him so he had to be quick. He shivered. A truly terrifying thought.

He hurried to his dresser and found a pair of gym shorts and an old t-shirt he got from a water park a few years before when he and his roommates got to go for free once because Changhyun got Splash Master of the Month (whatever that meant). It was a fond memory seeing Jinhyuk squeal in terror on the drop tower as he sprung up and down in the air, his impossibly long legs smacking against the surface of the pool below helplessly, but it wasn’t enough to distract Wooseok from the dark pit in his stomach that told him he wasn’t alone. If he wasn’t going to be alone, he’d rather be in the kitchen with Yein because at least he could  _ see  _ Yein, and on that note, if he could see him, it was because he was  _ supposed  _ to see him. If he saw a ghost, he certainly wasn’t supposed to. 

With that, he hurried back to the kitchen where it was safe. 

Yein had finished putting everything he needed into a big dough loaf that rested in the fridge, and Wooseok was left with all the bowls to clean. He didn’t mind though, really. As long as he stood at the sink with someone nearby, he didn’t have the chance to get scared. Soon the pot was boiling on the stove, and Wooseok could smell the familiar aroma of vegetables blanching in the water. It was an earthy scent, but it was homey, and it made washing dishes suck a little less. 

It was soon followed by the spicy tang of ramen broth with a little bit of rice vinegar splashed in to keep the noodles chewy and then by the low warmth of sesame oil drizzled on top so he knew it was almost time to eat, and he only had one measuring cup left. That went better than expected.

“You want a beer,” Yein asked.

Wooseok hummed, considering his options. Nothing tasted better with ramen than beer, but did he want to consume anything that might make him especially vulnerable to the things that went bump in the night? He shook his head. Not on his watch! “I’m good with water.”

“Suit yourself,” he said. A distant clank followed by the metallic hiss of a bottle opener triggered the salivary glands under Wooseok’s tongue.

“On second thought,” Wooseok started before catching the second hiss. “Oh, thanks.”

“Mhm.”

They made their way to the table, each taking a seat on opposite sides of the pot. Wooseok pinched out a handful of noodles with some of the vegetables and put them into his bowl. He slurped and hissed at the steam before swallowing down his first bite whole. “You’re right. Yours is better than mine.”

“It’s because you get distracted,” he said, waving his chopsticks as he spoke. “Too many games on your phone.”

“It’s a part of life,” Wooseok said with his mouth half full.

“I don’t know if Superstar SMtown is on the pyramid of human needs.”

“You wanna talk about Superstar SM with me, Taeyeon stan?”

Yein’s cheeks raised into happy little orbs. “I’m one card away from a full R set.”

“I told you I’d get you a pack.”

“No, that’s okay,” he said. “Gives me something to do.”

“And you blame me for getting distracted?”

“I’m not the one who overcooks my ramen over a music game,” he chided.

“Okay, but how is it my fault if I wanna play a little Cherry Bomb, and then  _ boom  _ Black on Black hard mode comes on? What am I supposed to do? Say no?!”

“Don’t play NCT levels when you’re cooking,” he whined. “You  _ know  _ it’s gonna happen!”

“Does that mean I’m allowed to use the kitchen then?”

“Absolutely not,” he shook his head.

With that they ate quietly until the pot was bone dry. Wooseok was left to clean up from dinner along with the last cookie bowl while Yein arranged the cookies on a cookie sheet. He popped them in the oven, and then there was nothing for Wooseok to do but go to bed. But he didn’t want to go to bed. Even if the dishes wore him out, he would never sleep through the night alone in his room. No, he would have to camp out on the couch for the night with Jinhyuk’s Holy Bat to keep him safe, and if Yein made fun of him for it, he'd shove one of his own cookies up his nose.

Wooseok piled himself up on the couch with a blanket, a glass of water on the table next to him, and the bat, and prepared to wait the night out and just deal with being tired at work the next day. As long as he didn’t take the wrong bus, it would be fine he thought. 

Yein stayed in the kitchen watching a show on his phone while Wooseok pretended to do the same even though the only thing on his phone screen was a wikihow article on how to exercise ghosts out of an apartment. It seemed that his best option was number four: move out. He glanced back at Yein who wasn’t paying him any attention with a sad sigh. He didn’t want to move out, though. He liked living with him and Jinhyuk. They were like three peas in a pod. Maybe he could convince them to move with him. Maybe he could burn the building down so they’d have to.

Maybe that was a tad too extreme.

No, he would just have to learn how to share a space with the ghosts, but that was easier said than done when Jinhyuk wasn’t there, and it wasn’t like Yein was incapable of protecting him, but he just didn’t have the vibe of someone who could do it without giggling about it. Wooseok did not like to be giggled at.

Then after a while of weighing his options, the timer dinged, and when Yein opened the open, the smell of warm brown sugar and shortbread spilled out into the apartment. Suddenly he forgot what he was so afraid of. But Wooseok didn’t want to get too emotionally invested in the cookies since they were all meant for Yein’s work event so he tore himself away. It was a pity, he thought. They smelled like very good cookies.

He did manage to pull up something to actually watch then to distract himself from the sweets, but then Yein plopped down next to him and handed him a warm cookie wrapped in a paper towel.

“Are you using me as your guinea pig again,” Wooseok pretended to be suspicious. Truthfully as long as Yein didn’t forget the sugar again, he knew this cookie would be bakery approved.

“No,” he scrunched his nose and snatched the cookie away. “I was trying to be nice.”

“Hey!” Wooseok whined, taking it from his hand. “I’m just kidding! Thank you.”

“Mhm.”

He took a bite without caution and just as he thought, he had nothing to fear. It was a little dry for Yein’s standards, but literally no one else would have noticed. He just had to be sure to catch the crumbs before they found their way to the couch.

“How is it?”

“It’s good,” Wooseok said as he chewed. “Tastes like grandma cookies.”

“Grandma cookies,” he laughed, delighted. It was a compliment actually to tell someone that their cookies tasted like they came from a grandma. Everyone knew that. “That good?”

“Mhm,” he said. He reached for his glass of water to wash it down. “Much better than the chocolates.”

He sighed into the couch and nodded. “I’m glad no one ate those.”

“It’s okay,” he assured him. “It was just a canned milk switch. I know someone who accidentally cooked chicken in the sweetened kind.”

_ “Oh my god.” _

“I’ve only gagged once eating someone else’s food, and that was it.”

“Why didn’t they use coconut milk?”

“Don’t ask me,” he shrugged. “I’m not even allowed to use the kitchen.”

Yein giggled, content. He leaned into him, exhausted to the core. “It was you, wasn’t it.”

“What? No! It was not me!”

“I dunno,” he sang. “Seems suspicious.”

“You’re the one who switched the milk, not me,” he pointed out. “Besides, I burn things. I don’t make weird food.”

“That’s true,” he said. “Your parents should have named you Kim Charbroiled.”

“I’m moving out.”

“No you’re not.”

“I’m going on a really long vacation.”

“Can I have your room?”

“What do you need my room for,” Wooseok eyed him.

“Storage.”

Wooseok rolled his eyes and dropped his head back against the sofa. “I’ve decided to stay.”

Yein slapped his knees before standing up. “Suit yourself! You going to bed?”

Wooseok looked away in search of an answer. How could he say no without being dramatic? He also didn’t want his roommate to think he was going to stay up all night to be noisy. There had to be a happy medium. “Ah, I think I’m going to sleep on the couch tonight.”

“The couch?” Yein balked.

“Yeah, you know, a sleepover for one,” he laughed nervously. Super convincing, he thought.

Yein eyed the bat in his lap and raised a brow. “You scared to sleep by yourself?”

Wooseok swallowed.  _ “No.” _

“I can camp out with you,” he shrugged.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I don’t mind,” he yawned. “Let me go wash up and change, though. I have flour in my hair.”

He was gone before Wooseok could argue, but he couldn’t help but feel relieved. If someone else was there with him, maybe he could at least get in a few hours. The night already looked more hopeful.

Soon they were both on the couch ready to sleep. There wasn’t enough room for both of them to lay down so they both kind of slumped over with their shoulders pressed together in the center of the sofa and their legs slung out to the side.

“You okay with the light off?” Yein asked. 

“Yeah, I’m good,” Wooseok said, but the way his voice shook betrayed him. Everything his body did when he was scared betrayed him. It was really inconvenient, he thought. Maybe he should learn how to coexist with the goats but like in a way where he was not a ghost. He very much did not want to become a ghost.

Yein hummed and pulled the blanket over them. He reached out and took Wooseok’s hand for comfort, and it wasn’t a gesture that went unappreciated. In fact, the warmth and the softness of his palm grounded him more than he expected. “You’re going to be okay. Got your bat?”

Wooseok reached over and gripped the tape wrapped handle with his free hand and nodded. He was going to be okay. He had Jinhyuk’s Holy Bat, and Yein was going to stay with him for the night so that the ghosts couldn’t get him while he slept. Everything was going to be fine.

They talked for a bit, but neither had the energy to keep up a conversation, and soon a limp weight pressed against Wooseok’s shoulder. He turned his head slightly to see Yein fast asleep, his head drooped down and mouth slightly parted. Wooseok held back a laugh as he gently placed the back of his hand on Yein’s forehead and pushed it back slightly for him.

With Yein asleep, Wooseok felt the need to keep him safe while his defenses were down. He took his bat and laid it across their laps for protection, alert and on guard. It was one thing to cower by himself in the shower, but now that he had someone else to take care of, maybe he wasn’t that scared anymore.

Or maybe the ghosts were so intimidated by his newfound bravado that weren’t hanging around anymore for him to have anything to be afraid of. 

Either way, as Yein slept next to him, Wooseok finally knew what it felt like to face his fears head on, and that was something he couldn’t wait to tell his roommates about.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I’m so sorry for this! I don’t know!
> 
> Shout out to my mom for accidentally cooking chicken in sweetened condensed milk that one time. 🤢 you are an inspiration.


End file.
